Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has done a lot to develop the new Naruto Universe that has been altered by Ada’s Omnipotence jutsu. Thus far Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto have focused on the state of the world and the place the entire cast has in it. Now with Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 13, titled “Ten Directions,” placed a slight pause on current day events to reveal what happened during the Blank Period years between this series and the original Boruto manga. This insight came in a way that introduced the Naruto Universe’s version of Doctor Strange. Let’s take a look at that development and what it could all mean for the future of this series.
KOJI KASHIN IS BORUTO’S DOCTOR STRANGE
Two Blue Vortex Chapter 13 does some of the greatest amount of world building for the young sequel series. While coming in and out consciousness after Jura’s attack, Boruto reminisces about his time during the Blank Period years. Specifically, at some point after Sasuke Uchiha sacrificed himself to protect his protégé, Boruto was heavily pursued by various Sunagakure shinobi and was only saved by being teleported to one of Orochimaru’s secret basis by Koji Kashin.
The clone of Jiraiya reveals to Boruto that thanks to his Shinjutsu ability he was able to foresee the events of Kawaki using Ada’s Omnipotence to change their status quo. Though Koji does say that he is not immune to Omnipotence as he still had to put together the truth of what happened. Koji was able to do this thanks to his special Shinjutsu ability called Prescience. Through his Prescience Shinjutsu he is able to see the various branches every decision made can take.
Based on how Kishimoto and Ikemoto showcased Koji’s Prescience ability it was very reminiscent of Doctor Strange seeing all the possible futures in Avengers: Infinity War. Though unlike Doctor Strange, Koji openly gives Boruto examples of how different branches give way to dark futures.
Given how open Koji is about how his Prescience ability works it could be possible that the best possible future he saw was the one where Boruto knows about it. Koji is too much of a calculative character to not have his own reason for revealing this to Boruto. It could also tie back into the fact that Koji is Jiraiya’s clone that draws him to help Naruto’s son without even himself knowing. It would be a great callback to how important Jiraiya was to Naruto that it would extend to a key relationship for his son.
KAWAKI CAN’T AVOID HIS DESTINY, ONLY DELAY IT
While not specifically stated as such, the way Koji spoke about his Prescience it does appear that he was able to look into what would be Naruto’s version of the Multiverse. While the same basic concept, Koji did focus on more how destiny factors into much of what he was seeing.
A key part of all the futures that Koji revealed was Kawaki being captured by someone in the Ōtsutsuki Clan or God Trees, also known as the Shinju. Kawaki seems to be destined to be what brings back the Ten-Tails. Even if the dark futures Koji has foreseen where stopped it all seems to delay Kawaki’s ultimate destiny. It is an unavoidable fate other than when it will happen.
This brings greater importance to the flashforward scene that started the entire Boruto series. That destined battle in the ruins of the Hidden Leaf Village has more at stake than just stopping Kawaki’s plans or undoing the changes made by Omnipotence. Depending on how the fight plays out Boruto defeating Kawaki or the other way around could lead to playing into the greater Ten-Tails revival.
Though there is the wild card of whether Code or Shinju could alter the way events unfold. Afterall, Kishimoto and Ikemoto made it a point to have Koji mention that there is the possibility that Ōtsutsuki Clan have used their God-like powers to mess with the timeline. With how the branching paths appear to work someone one of the Ōtsutsuki related characters could be what forces Boruto and Kawaki’s fated battle to happen in order to get to the Ten-Tails revival
WILL BORUTO GET THE HELP HE NEEDS
With everything revealed in Two Blue Vortex Chapter 13 there is still the question about how our heroes can defeat Code and the Shinju and stop the Ten-Tails revival. We do know that at the very least Boruto is ready thanks to Koji’s training. Koji utilizing his Prescience to optimize training Boruto during the Blank Period years. It also explained how Boruto could learn Jutsu like his grandfather’s, Minato Namikaze, Flying Thunder God Technique as Koji used Prescience to understand how these Jutsus work and teach them to Boruto.
While this is a great way to establish how Boruto is a powerhouse that can take on Code, the Shinju, and Kawaki how about the rest of the cast? Unlike Boruto, thus far we’ve seen that the other main characters like Sarada, Konohamaru, and Kawaki barely survive their encounters against Code and the Shinju. Even though they have grown stronger during the Blank Period years their rate of growth was nowhere near how far Boruto has come. That is not a good thing given how powerful the Shinju are.
Not all is lost when it comes to the rest of the cast of Boruto. We know Kawaki will rapidly grow in strength to set-up his fated battle against Boruto. Himawari Uzumaki also recently revealed to be the new Jinchūriki of Kurama’s Nine-Tail Demon Fox. Given the teaser of Himawari being an even greater fit for Jinchūriki chakra she is sure to unlock abilities her father used much quicker thanks to Kurama more friendly nature now.
The question is more on whether we will see characters like Sarada and Konohamaru go through some power upgrades. That may be more difficult to show since Two Blue Vortex is a monthly series rather than weekly like Naruto was before it. The publishing schedule has benefited each chapter of Two Blue Vortex to be important. Though its been a double edge sword as its made it so Kishimoto and Ikemoto haven’t properly developed the growth of characters not named Boruto or Kawaki. Hopefully that is something addressed in upcoming chapters of Two Blue Vortex.
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